The invention relates generally to welding systems and, more particularly, to a welding system for determining a quality of a welding operation.
Welding is a process that has increasingly become utilized in various industries and applications. Such processes may be automated in certain contexts, although a large number of applications continue to exist for manual welding operations. In both cases, such welding operations rely on a variety of types of equipment to ensure the supply of welding consumables (e.g., wire feed, shielding gas, etc.) is provided to the weld in appropriate amounts at the desired time.
Welding operations are performed on a variety of different materials (e.g., metallic materials). For example, a workpiece may be formed from a carbon steel or a corrosion resistant alloy, such as stainless steel. A time duration of heat that the workpiece is exposed to may be managed for obtaining certain metallurgical characteristics. For example, certain preheat temperatures, interpass temperatures, heat input of welding, and/or other welding parameters may be managed. Accordingly, a quality of a welding operation on a workpiece may depend on a time history of temperatures that the workpiece is exposed to during the welding operation. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to detect the temperature of a workpiece near a joint while a welding operation is occurring on the joint in conjunction with timing data corresponding to the welding operation. Thus, it may be difficult to determine a time history of temperatures that a workpiece is exposed to during the welding operation.